Use of Highly-Disperse Metal Particles in Elastomer Composites

Abstract

Polymer materials filled with metal powders are widely used in a variety of industries because of their specific and often unique properties. The choice of metal filler is governed by the functional purpose of the composite material and by economic or aesthetic considerations. The reason for the extensive use of metal powders as fillers for polymers is most commonly the potential they provide to adjust the density of the materials, their appearance and their magnetic and other physical properties [1-3]. In a polymer, metal powders play the part not only of fillers, but also of crosslinking agents, curing additives, etc. The smaller the metal particles, the larger the specific surface of the powder and the greater its physical and chemical activity. Metals with a colloidal degree of dispersion are especially active. When macromolecules interact with colloidal metals produced in a polymer solution, highly homogeneous two-phase aggregatively stable metal-matrix polymer materials are formed, which are known as metal/polymer colloidal composites. Metal/polymer colloidal composites may find viable use as anti-friction, semiconductor, anti-corrosion, ferromagnetic, catalytically-active and other materials [1]. Various matrix polymers are used as a basis for the production of metal/polymer composites [4-7], the majority of which are sundry thermoplastics [1, 8-21] and thermosetting plastics [16, 22-23]. Elastomers are far less commonly used.